Improvement in potato-diggers



JAMES WHEELER, or DoWAGIAG, MICHIGAN.

Letters Patent No. 95,175, dated September 21, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN PoTATo-DIGGERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part ofthesame.

Toall 'whom 'Lt may concer-a Be it" known thatl, JAMES WHEELER, ofDewagiac, in the county of Cass, and Statey of Michigan, have invented anew and useful Machine for Digging Potatoes; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of theconstruetiou and operation of the same, reference being had to theannexed drawings, making apart of this specification, in which- Figure lis atop view, and

Figures 2 and 3 are detached sections.

4'lhe nature of my invention consists in constructing apotato-digger,of-thatclass which is usedovithout carrying-wheels orbeam, the team being hitched similar to the manner of hitching to acommon roadscraper.. Y

To enable others skilled in the art to-inake and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation. l

In the accompanying drawingsv Arepresents a broad iron hoop, open on theunder side. Y i J i The part of the hoop above the line of itshorizontal `diameter' forms a semicircle, to which are attached -thehandles B Brand draughthbail C.

The open ends and lower part of said hoop are curved backward from thevertical line of the upper 'pal-t, and form shares, with theircutting-edges turned in\vard,las seen at D D, and gradually approacheach other as they extend backward, the rear ends ofwhich nearly meet,leaving an opening of not'more than two inches. The outer edge of' eachshare is provided with holes, in which the iron rods l 2.34 5 6'7 8 9 10are fast- Aeneld, to form a screen.

'.llhcrear ends of said rods are supported by the shaft Ela-nidsufficiently elevated to come a little above the su'rfaee'of the ground.This screen is agitated by a rocking motion, produced -by thecam-'wheels on the ends of shaft E.

Said cams are so arranged that when the longest radius or diameter oflone is iu a vertical position, the longest diameter of the other willbe in a horizontal position,.holding one end of shaft E higher thanv theother, but as the cams roll forward, the high end is thrown-down, andthc other end thrown up, causing a rocking motion of the rear end ofsaid screen, for the purpose of separating the potatoes from the dirt.

The circle of the hoop Ashould be made sufliciently large to embrace theentire breadth ofthe potato-hill.

It will be seen-that the space of earth left undisturbed by the rearends of' shares D D will prevent the mass of earth and potatoes fromdrawing forward as the shares l) D are drawing under the outer edgesofthe potato-hill; Vand the rods of which the screen is composed shouldbe sufficiently close as to gather all the lpotatoes of consequence.

H H represent braces, 4extending from the hoop A to the handles B IS,for the support ofthe handles.

In this invention the bow or hoop A forms the main body of the machine,with shares D D in one piece, combining great simplicity with strengthand durability, and its mode of operation is too obvious to need furtherdescription.

Having thus fully described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, i'sl A 1.The construction ofthe bow or hoop A, with its shares D D in one piece,as 'and for the purposes set forth.

2. In combination with the hoop A and shares D D, the screen, composedof the rods 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, (or any suitable uumbcr,)the shaft E,cam-wheels uy a, handles B B, braces H H, and bail C, when constructed,arranged, and combined as set forth.

v JAMES WHEELER.

Y Witnesses:

S. H. WHEELER, S. BOWLING.

